All the Right Questions
by Dranzen
Summary: The Exile finds Revan in the Unknown Regions and has questions and a message… LSF for both!


_Notes:_ You know what, I don't often write one-shots. Or long ones at that. Oh my God. 

Anyways, this is about Revan and the Exile, (Alex Maline and Ara Zen) who meet in the Unknown Regions. The Exile has questions, and a message, for Revan, who is all too willing to answer and listen.

Yeah. It'll be mostly RevanCarth. That's about it.

_Summary:_ The Exile finds Revan in the Unknown Regions and has questions and a message… LSF for both!

_Disclaimer: _Me? Yeah. I don't own.

**All the Right Questions**

She was dark-haired, just like Ara remembered. Her hair was even darker than Ara's, and this thought made her reach up and touch her own dark locks. Here was the woman the Exile had been hunting for so long, the woman who so many had been looking for…

Revan had her head between her knees, leaning against the dirty wall of their cell. Ara sat on the other side of the small room, watching the older. Ara and Revan had been good friends at the Academy, when both were still Padawans, but now…

She couldn't even remember who Ara was.

Revan's hair had been taken out of it's usual pony tail and her long locks fell about her head, shielding her face from view. She looked asleep, but definitely not at peace. They were on a strange planet, captured by a strange species…all because of _why_?

Briefly, Ara's conversation with Admiral Onasi on Telos, two standard months ago, flashed through her mind.

_"Tell her that Carth Onasi is waiting for her."_

"Kreia sent you here, didn't she?"

Ara nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice. It was empty, lacking the warmth that it used to have, when they trained together. She didn't answer for a moment, and Revan looked up. Ara noticed the dark bags under her eyes, and the all around tired appearance of the old Sith Lord.

The memories sent shivers down her back.

"In a way, yes…" Ara responded quietly.

Revan sighed. "You shouldn't have come."

"You need an ally."

"Not yet, I don't."

She was stubborn, as always. This made Ara smile. Revan's dark eyes narrowed at the younger woman and the Exile shrugged.

"You're probably the only person who will smile just before their execution."

"Possibly. But, you know, we aren't going to die."

"What makes you say that?" Revan questioned skeptically. Ara sensed the doubt in her voice, and this made her smile grow.

"Because of who we are. We're probably two of the luckiest people alive."

Now Revan smiled. "Yes, I suppose that is true."

Silence fell between them again, both women looking at each other. They studied each other; Ara looked for more changes in Revan's features and personality, Revan searched for a feature that would help her understand the Exile.

"You have questions." It was a statement, not a question that came out of Revan's mouth a few minutes later. She stretched out her long legs, relaxing a little bit. She didn't seem to care about the muck around her, though Ara could see why. Revan's clothes were already covered in all sorts of muck from the different worlds she had been to, and were torn in some places.

Ara shifted uncomfortably, hugging her own knees to her chest. She stared at the dirty stone floor, shrugging. "Possibly," She looked up and met eyes with Revan, who stared back. "If I did, would you answer them?"

Revan shut her eyes, thinking for a moment, and then nodded her head. "Yes, I would. To the very best of my ability." She opened her eyes, frowning at the Exile. "What was your name again?"

Ara couldn't help but feel hurt by this question, but tried not to show it. "Ara," she said gently. "Ara Zen, Revan."

Revan's face darkened. "I guess that there is no stopping you from calling me that."

"It's your name." Ara pointed out.

"It was my name." Revan replied in a tone of voice that said the conversation was over. "Now, you had questions?"

She sounded like Kreia, yet different. Ara blinked at her, thinking. Her mind was buzzing. There was that chance that they would only have this chance to talk, for her to ask the questions that had been plaguing her thoughts for so long…

"Why? Why did you leave?" Ara blurted out, without even thinking about it properly.

Revan laughed loudly, the sound echoing in the room. "Why? You know why. You left for the same reason…the Sith must be stopped. The True Sith." Her laughter died and she sighed, shaking her head. "Why do you ask the obvious, Jedi?"

Ara didn't reply. She had known the reason, but she had always thought that there was some other reason…some other… She shook her head. She had questions only a few minutes before, and now they were all lost to her. Mentally, she tried to grab at them before they floated away.

"…are you a Jedi, or are you still a Sith?" Ara asked quietly. She had asked Kreia this, time and time again.

"Neither," Revan replied somewhat boredly. She stared into the space next to Ara's head, eyes twinkling. "I am neither. I can use the Force, if that is what you are asking." Her eyes met Ara's again.

"But I am no Jedi."

"What do you mean?"

Revan shut her eyes, bowing her head. "I disagree with the teachings of the Jedi." She said. "Even before…my accident, I disagreed with a lot of what the Jedi stood for. I understood it, but I hated it." Her eyes opened and she watched Ara with a fiery gaze that the Exile knew all too well.

"I hated how it controlled how I lived my life. I am…" She stopped, breathing deeply. "I am an angry person, Ara. I have always been that way. I am cocky, and I am thick-headed. But I can also be calm, and emotionless like a Jedi," She stopped again. "I am Grey Jedi, because I drift between the teachings of the Sith and the Jedi, until finally I follow neither.

"You see Ara, I can feel. I can hate and I can be kind, I can be angry and knowledgeable and ignorant… I am no longer restricted, and I am in control." She spread her arms and her expression softened, the fire disappearing. "I can love, Ara. I can love."

Her voice was soft, but it echoed in the stone room for several moments in the silence that fell between the two women.

"I know, I understand." Ara said smiling. "Just…don't fall, or love will be pointless."

"I know that better than you think, Exile."

_"She said she, she couldn't bring anyone she loved."_

Once again, her conversation with the Telosian Admiral flashed through her mind. She hadn't mentioned it yet, she had no idea how to bring the subject up. All she could do right now was ask…there would be time later. Guilt stung at her for a moment, but she shrugged it off.

"What was your name?" Ara asked. This was a question that she had been thinking over for ages. "When they changed your memories?"

Revan smiled at this question, nodding her head. "Alexandria Maline or rather, Alex." She sighed. "But once again, I am Revan."

"It must be difficult."

"I thought, at first, that it would be," replied Revan, shrugging and looking to the side at the closed door. Their only source of light was the barred opening near the top of the wooden door, and it cast a yellow square between the two. "But it wasn't. It was like I had been acting the entire part out, like an actress…like I had just woken up from a dream in which I was another person.

"A dream in which I was Alex, a proud Scout of the Republic."

"Why did you fall?" Ara asked, once the information had sunk in. "There has to be a good reason behind it. You were once one of the most powerful Jedi in the Galaxy!"

Revan was silent. She kept staring at the door as though she wanted to avoid the question. A chuckle suddenly came from her and Ara blinked, confused.

"I was angry. I was scared. I was hateful. All these things…all of them led to my fall," Revan said, shaking her head and turning to look at Ara again. "I should have seen it coming, I should have braced myself…but I didn't. I was foolish, and cocky. So I fell. No other reason.

"But…I don't regret it. I caused so many horrible things to happen, but it's the past. All one can do is look back and think 'My God, how could I have done that?' and then try to repair the damage."

"And that's what you're trying to do."

Revan nodded. "But this is a conversation for another time, I think."

"I have more questions!" Ara said hurriedly. She wasn't ready to stop talking yet. All of her questions…they needed to be answered.

"Then ask, and I will answer as much as I can." Revan said calmly. She appeared relax, but Ara could feel the tension radiating off of her.

"Thank you." Ara breathed, closing her eyes and sighing.

"What happened to Malak?"

Revan blinked and then laughed. "Your Exile must have put you out of touch with the Galaxy!" Ara did not answer, and Revan took this as a sign to continue. "I killed him. I attempted to redeem him, yes," she added at Ara's shocked look. "But in the end, I killed him. Just as, I suppose, you did with Kreia. But there are some who do not wish for redemption Ara."

"And the Star Forge?"

"It was destroyed by the Republic Fleet. It almost brought me down with it, luckily the previous pilot of the Ebon Hawk…" she trailed off, and then sighed. "He was a fantastic pilot…" she said softly, staring into space again. "Fantastic man in general."

"…Admiral Onasi?" Ara said timidly. "Was he the previous pilot?"

Revan snapped out of her dreamland, blinking at Ara. She was quiet, and then she smiled, relaxing a little bit. "Yes. Admiral Carth Onasi." She said it several times, and then began laughing. "I teased him about when he first got promoted…he would get mad, and then start to laugh with me."

"You two must have been good friends," Ara cut in before Revan could drift off into her memories. It was becoming apparent that the Unknown Regions were taking a toll on her Mental Health; or, at least, their cell was. "You must miss him."

"Yes…yes I do…" Even through the dim light of the cell Ara could see the sadness etched on her face. Now she looked even more tired than before.

"He misses you too," Ara continued, gaining the attention of Revan. She was shaking, but she was determined not to make this too obvious. She had always been a bit of a sap…and this story between Revan and Carth Onasi was so…

What? Perfect? The love that Ara had always wanted?

_"He knows there is nothing he can offer on such as you, no matter either of your feelings."_

Ara suddenly flinched at the memory. Her battle with Kreia, or rather Darth Traya, still lingered in her mind. Her predictions of the future, Ara's questions about her friends…

_"Atton is, as always, the fool."_

No, she thought. She was the fool.

"You spoke with him?"

Revan's voice suddenly snapped Ara out of her dreamy state and she blinked at her. And then she smiled sadly.

"He said…he said to tell you that he misses you, and that he's waiting for you."

"He won't wait much longer," Revan sighed. She breathed deeply, appearing indifferent to this information. However, Ara could feel…excitement? Radiating off of her. No…it was happiness.

Revan got to her feet, using the wall as support; one of her legs had apparently fallen asleep.

"Come on. Let's bust out of here."

Ara blinked up at her, watching as the old Sith Lord walked over to the door. Revan peered over her shoulder at Ara, frowning impatiently. Ara scrambled to her feet, confused. And then…

_BAM_

Ara always remembered Revan to be a good fighter with natural strength, and that her kick was to be feared. This information did not stop her from being shocked when Revan made the barred door bend considerably when she kicked it. It was made out of wood, and Ara didn't know why Revan hadn't done this earlier.

Nothing had stirred her, a voice said at the back of Ara's mind. Ara pushed it away, grinning at her old friend's back.

There was some loud squawking outside. The bird species that had captured the two Guardians were panicking. They were powerful, but cowardly. Ara and Revan only needed to show them that they had strength, and the creatures would bend to their will and set them free – with some resistance of course.

_"A Jedi's life is sacrifice."_

Atton, Disciple, Kreia…so many had spoken those words to her. She believed it, but she was not willing to accept it. Many Jedi would come out of hiding, soon. Ara believed in that faint hope.

And then…maybe she would give up her mantle as the Last Jedi, and attempt at a normal life.

As the squawking grew louder, and Revan broke down the entire of the door, Ara couldn't help but inwardly laugh and say, _Yeah Right.

* * *

_

This is a one-shot. However, I could make a sequel for it if people like it…

Hint hint. Nudge Nudge. Wink wink. Cough cough.

I know I got one of the two Kreia lines wrong...God...close enough for me though.

Review!

Zen-chan


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